


Glitter and all the ways it can ruin your life

by Swurmy



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff, Human AU, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Mall AU, Prank Wars, Slow Burn, all ships are major ships, logan and virgil are childhood friends, roman and janus are total theater kids, roman and remus are latino yes I make the rules, roman and remus are twins and have an actually good relationship, they all go to the same uni but don't know it because why not, they are all technically in uni but its summer vacation and they are tired, they don't end up in their final relationships right away, way more fluff than angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:01:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27951992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swurmy/pseuds/Swurmy
Summary: They all work at different stores in the same mall, they don’t really know one another until they all get pulled into a rather stupid thing. A prank war. A prank war that involved drama, roller skates, tears, and lots of glitter.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 12
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello thanks for checking out the first chapter of glitter! I have multiple other fics in the works but since this fic is rather fluffy and fun I decided to go ahead and post some of it. This is currently a work in progress and I do not know how many chapters nor words total it will be! I have not had any of this beta'd so I am so sorry for any mistakes in the writing!

Roman’s shift at Barnes and Noble started every weekday at exactly 4:30 pm, every weekend at 12:30 pm. It was a Tuesday at exactly 4:32 that Roman got pulled into the stupidest thing imaginable, something that Roman couldn’t have fathomed to have such an impact on his life, but it did. It all started that Tuesday, not with glitter, but with a simple out of place book. One out of place book and then another around ten minutes later. At 5:30 Roman was ready to knock down the bookshelves where the accursed books sat. With every turn of the head the books would seemingly rotate position and honestly if Roman couldn’t see the utter annoyance written on his coworkers’ faces he would probably believe that he had gone crazy. 6:00 came and Roman had stumbled onto the scene. 

A rather large shelf of books held almost all black covered books, yellow covered books were saved in order to properly make out a rather janky smiley face on the shelf. How anyone was able to move that many books without anyone’s notice perplexed Roman beyond belief, he’d almost be impressed if he didn’t have to put all the books back in place. Luckily for him, his manager Will decided on that moment to walk over to Roman. He glanced up at the older man, gesturing faintly to the mocking bookshelf. 

“Oh it’s on,” Will whispered with determination before jerking his head conspiratorially toward Roman, “Roman, gather all the post-it-notes you can find and tell everyone to meet in the back room for a ‘team meeting’. Rachel will cover the store during the meeting.” He strode off, determined steps quieted by the off grey carpeting. 

It took Roman a whole fifteen minutes to gather all the post-its that hid around the abnormally large mall store, another five to get to the comm system and announce an emergency team meeting. It took three minutes for all the Barnes and Noble employees to meet in the back, alongside one emo Starbucks employee who was on break at the same time. 

Will strode in, grabbing the post-its from Roman’s arms. He dumped them all on the large oak table alongside dozens of different coloured sharpies. 

“I have called this meeting for a very important reason,” everyone’s heads turned to attention, some more aptly then others, “as you all may have noticed, someone has been moving around the books. I didn’t think it would come to this, we never meant to have _this_ affect our employees. They leave us no choice, those books out there, those are an act of war that you all have now been dragged into.” 

Silence filled the back room, the mass of workers all turned a questioning eye back at the babbling man. It was the brave Starbucks employee who decided to ask what everyone was wondering. 

“Yeah, uh, what are you even talking about?” 

“Oh, Virgil, I’m talking about the prank war of course.” Will then began pulling apart all of the post-its, sticking them individually on the rather old table. 

“Of course, how could I have forgotten about an imaginary prank war no one mentioned,” Virgil rasped leaning further into the corner that he stood in, his eyes glaring back at anyone who dared to stare too long at him. 

“For the past two weeks, Rachel, Damien and I have been engaged in a prank war with the managers at Sephora. It started with prank calls, post-its on cars, but now they’ve gone too far. So, I have an idea,” Will proceeded to hand out the sharpies while he divulged his scheme. 

——

Janus couldn’t say that he hated his job, no he much rather vaguely enjoyed it. He had a rather deep passion for makeup and such, it was just the customers that soured the job considerably. Well the customers and now the situation he had found himself so conveniently in. It was on a Wednesday, of course it was on a Wednesday, the day he helped open with his manager Cynthia. Opening the store was as per usual a mundane task and at first everything seemed to be in place, until of course they looked closer. 

A whole shelf of lipsticks were arranged to depict some semblance of a winky face. All the foundations were shifted one shade left and... _was that…_ Janus could just make out post-its hiding high on the walls. With closer inspection he could see the post-its contained writing that further worsened the situation. 

_There are 130 post-its hidden around the store, good luck_

_-10/130_

Janus couldn’t say that he hated his job, but at that moment he sure as hell could think it. 

_——_

The official Barnes and Nobles vs. Sephora prank war fully went underway a day after the Wednesday. The employees would find time out of work or during their lunch breaks to devise small little pranks. The Barnes and Nobles employees’ pranks were always a show and rather messy. The Sephora employees, well they were much more subtle, much harder to catch until the prank was accomplished. 

Roman had not participated in the war besides helping set up a majority of the post-its, it’s not that he was against the idea. Not at all, pranks were a way to brighten up his boring shifts, it’s just, Roman for the love of everything couldn’t separate the store from the employees.

_How could someone even think of messing with the precious makeup? Preposterous!,_ Roman thought, hand playing with the crumpled receipt in front of him. He sat rather awkwardly at a relatively small round table, a grande caramel Frappuccino sat in front of him; condensation running off from the cup onto the table. A rather edgy barista was giving Roman the side eye from his post up at the front. 

Said edgy barista was also glaring at anyone who dared to approach the cash register, a bad business practice if you asked Roman. Yet somehow the barista had yet to be fired or even, to Roman’s knowledge, reprimanded. The barista had been working at the Starbucks insides of Barnes and Nobles from before Roman even applied at any of the stores in the mall. It wasn’t uncommon for an employee to spend their break at the Starbucks, it’s simply that most of the employees preferred to go to the food court in order to avoid the main barista’s glare. To make the glare less intimidating Roman nicknamed the boy, Mr. Espresso, _because he looks like he’s one more espresso shot from falling dead._ Of course Roman knew the boy’s name... _I think it started with a b?..._ but he much rather go with a nickname because it’s not like they’d ever actually become friends. 

Either way Roman preferred the scrutiny of Mr. Espresso than having to trudge toward the food court, or well one of the food courts. On his walk towards the food court there’s always a wide array of people slowing his walk to the area and then there were the countless salesmen that would not stop talking to him. When he made it to the area he would have to decide on what to eat and wait in the atrociously long lines, it’s not like he had any food court friends would take his order from the back. It’s not that he hasn’t tried to make food court buddies, it’s just that the main lower level food court is near Spencer’s. Remus works at Spencer’s.

Roman loves his brother Remus dearly, but Remus is an agent of chaos that all of the food employees are aware of. They of course always take Remus’ back door orders, because somehow the agent of chaos can make friends out of many tired teenagers. _Probably an intimidation tactic._ That means that of course whenever Roman is trying to make a food service friend Remus bursts into his conveniently placed break to butt into the conversation. Every time. _It’s as if he knows whenever I’m in the lower food court._ So, instead of practically wasting his break, he stayed in the little Starbucks and browsed his phone or teased Mr. Espresso. _Seriously what was his name? It wouldn’t be this hard if he bothered wearing the required name tag or if he filled out the tender portion as something other than ‘tired’._

“Hey dipshit, there’s a lunatic waving at you from across the store,” Mr. Espresso called from the front as he put his head back into his arms. 

Roman turned his head looking for said waving lunatic and was met with the crooked of one Remus. When his brown eyes locked with Remus’ vibrant green, Remus took it as a go ahead to barrel toward his brother. 

“Rojo! When were you going to tell me about the prank war!” Remus yelled, hugging Roman painfully from the back, the studs on his leather jacket dug painfully into Roman’s skin. _Why couldn’t he wear something less painful? Like a leather jacket without studs?_

“Why didn’t _you_ tell me my undercut was “not it” junior year?” Roman huffed, cheeks puffing out in a rather immature manner. 

“Prank war is above a stupid haircut that I still have pictures of,” Remus let go of him, instead sitting on top of the table and stealing the half finished Frappuccino. “Besides, I want in.”

“No”

“Ro, you’re killing me. The one wish I have from this fruitless life is to at least be involved in a prank war”

“You’ve been involved in numerous prank wars before!”

“Those were all highly illegal and mean spirited!”

“And you’re saying that’s not what you’re going to do in this one? Plus you’re not even an employee here!” 

“Fine I won’t help you in the prank war,” Remus hops from the table, finishing off the drink as his platform boots stomp on the floor tiling. Roman watches him walk off, a lump forms in his throat for an inexplicable reason. 

His break quickly ended and he was forced back into doing the average work while watching out for possible pranksters, not that he ever caught them. Roman could admit that the Sephora employees’ pranks were rather effective, but in his opinion both sides needed to add a little something extra to their pranks. _What good does a prank war do if it’s not dramatic? Extravagant?_ Lucky for everyone, Roman made the decision not to join in on the war. _For now._

——

Janus was tired, cranky, and honestly sick of the stupid prank war. He’d caught around three pranksters just that day. _If they’re going to pull a prank they should be sneakier about it. At least my coworkers have some sensibility._ Yet to Janus the whole prank war lowered his overall opinion of his coworkers. The war was childish to him, an utter waste of time that made his work day even harder. He had to sweep sand from under a display case, _not fun in the slightest  
._

He let out the hundredth sigh of the day as he felt his heel go smoothly into a dollop of whipped cream. _If my high school days weren’t behind me by exactly 370 days, I would make them regret even thinking about pranking the store. I would make the whole mall know not to fuck with me._ Janus angrily wiped up the cream, his eyes proceeded to jerkily twitch. _Old Janus is gone, left to repent for all of his past transgressions._ Janus paused his cleaning to look fully up at the ceiling. _But it’s not like old me is gone, I could…_ He shook his head and glared daggers at the dirtied rag in his hand. _No I-_

His thoughts got cut by the rather looming shadow that appeared before him. He took a look up at the intruder and plastered on a fake smile as he stood up. The shadow turned out to be a man probably no older than Janus himself, he wore a studded leather jacket, said jacket held quite a few patches and pins. His pants were terribly ripped, most likely from actual activity than precut. He was rather tall, way taller than Janus, further accentuated by his black platform boots. His face was in no way welcoming, set in a look of disinterest, and plastered with a rather odd looking mustache. _Well doesn’t he look lost._ The only thing that signaled a preclusion for makeup was the dark purple eyeshadow that adorned his eyelids, _which was honestly better blended than I would expect from someone of his ‘appearance’._

“Thank you for stopping into Sephora, is there anything I can help you with?” Janus’ plastic smile twitched as the man stepped closer, further looming over him. Although Janus was rather used to being shorter than your average person it still stung, just a bit. 

“Obviously not,” as the man spoke, Janus could see he was missing a tooth on his top row. Janus could also see how the man rolled his eyes in a rather neurotic manner. He could also see how the man pointedly avoided eye contact with him, _what are my eyes that ugly? Is there something on my face?_

“Then, I’ll be on my way,” Janus practically hissed, hands clutching tighter around the rag. 

“Wait.”

“Yes?” 

“I want to help you”

“You don’t look like the makeup type”

“I want to help you with the prank war” 

Janus sighs, rubbing his temples with his gloved hands, “there is no prank war, there never was a prank war, go away,” He makes to turn before adding on, “please.”

Janus does not hear receding footsteps instead he hears the foot fall coming closer before he is forced to look up again at a pair of rather dead eyes that refuse to meet his own even for a second. 

“Right, I should have known you don’t have it in you, here I thought there was a possibility that there was more to you than your snide demeanor, so nevermind,” the stomp of the man’s boots echoed in Janus’ mind along with his rather off putting words. S _nide? I take pride in my snideness. Fuck him, I could bring this whole mall to its knees without his goading or help. I could rule this mall and make it my bitch. I am a pranking god! But I wo-_

In his fervor Janus failed to account for the whipped cream that still coated the floor precariously. He failed to account for the limited amount of grip in his rather expensive designer boot heels. Suffice it to say if he wasn’t silently fuming he could have avoided the painful fall he is currently experiencing. 

Lying on the less than clean floor of the decently but not totally empty store, Janus stared up at the ceiling yet again. His dual coloured eyes full of defeat as the whipped cream melted into his rather new and rather pricey dress shirt. It seemed as if the humility gods were not finished with him as his eyes conveniently landed on one infuriatingly red post-it note. 

_I will single handedly win this prank war, I will make those heathens rue the day they dared to mess with me._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus was in a sour mood that was certain, though most people always seemed to think he was in a sour or stoic mood, but Roman knew better. There was a slight dullness to his eyes, a small downturn of his lips and he would not stop fidgeting with some hair ties he put on his wrist. ‘Is he still salty about me rejecting his prank offer? He’s never been angry about me wanting no part in his schemes, great now I’ll have to endure hearing customers gossiping even more about the homicidal looking Spencer’s employee, I’ve gotta do something.’
> 
> “Verde, uh,” Roman started at a loss for words as Remus continued to fiddle rather aggressively with the hair ties, “Ver, do you want-” 
> 
> He paused eyes catching onto a bright yellow sequin something in the corner of his eyes. Remus also seemed to be preoccupied openly staring at said scene that is no doubt going on. ‘I go on lunch break to the food court one time!’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya! Thank you so much for existing.

Remus was in a sour mood that was certain, though most people always seemed to think he was in a sour or stoic mood, but Roman knew better. There was a slight dullness to his eyes, a small downturn of his lips and he would not stop fidgeting with some hair ties he put on his wrist. _Is he still salty about me rejecting his prank offer? He’s never been angry about me wanting no part in his schemes, great now I’ll have to endure hearing customers gossiping even more about the homicidal looking Spencer’s employee, I’ve gotta do something._

“Verde, uh,” Roman started at a loss for words as Remus continued to fiddle rather aggressively with the hair ties, “Ver, do you want-” 

He paused eyes catching onto a bright yellow sequin something in the corner of his eyes. Remus also seemed to be preoccupied openly staring at said scene that is no doubt going on. _I go on lunch break to the food court one time!_

Leaning up against the probably freshly cleaned glass of the Barnes and Noble was a short man dressed in a rather eye straining yellow, fitted with a cape that had neon yellow sequins that burned into Roman’s retinas. His preposterously tall platforms were further smudging the glass. _Poor Will is going to have an aneurysm._

With a sneer the man catches Roman’s eyes, doing a quick once over of him. Roman can’t help but recoiling at the feeling of those eyes most definitely judging every aspect of him. _Who is he to judge????_

“What, never seen a uniform before Dracula? dios mio! I-is that a cane? And sequins? Is it early halloween or something?” Roman scoffed as he heavily gesticulated at the man, “Leave the halloween aesthetic to the punks, goths, and emos, posh boy. I mean your lip gloss and mascara is all wrong for the aesthetic, your total lack of eye shadow is insulting. Though that nasty snarl you’re wearing works” 

“Ro-”

“Roman is it?” The man drawled, a rather noticeable lisp was entangled with his pronunciation of the letter s, it sounded akin to a snake’s hiss, “Yes, charmed to meet you, I’m just here to formally wage war on you,” with this he points his cane at Roman, his gloved hands squeezing at its hilt as his other hand thrusts out a bright red post-it note. 

Roman cautiously approached the man, eyes sparking with recognition when he got close enough to read the note. 

_Missed me ;)_

_-131/130_

_~Love, Roman~_

“You signed it? Nice one Ro,” Remus commented, his eyebrow raised in a mocking fashion. 

“I didn’t, well, I did, but I didn’t think anyone would find it until after this stupid war!” 

“Anyways I, Janus of Sephora, master pranker and revenge giver declare war on you, Roman of Barnes and Noble, and wish you luck, you’re going to need it,” with a smirk Janus pushes himself off the glass and slithers away whilst Roman stares dumbfounded. 

A minute passes.

Then another. 

The sound of Remus’ heavy retreating steps finally breaks him out of his stupor, as does a rather pissed looking Mr. Espresso who spares not a single word before throwing the contents of the cup he was holding out onto Roman. Cold droplets of liquid slowly rolled down his now ruined shirt, the sickenly sweet scent of carmel vetoed all of his senses including his higher thinking functions. 

All Roman could do was stare as Mr. Espresso stormed off back into the store. 

_Que????_

\--

Logan hated his job, no, he more than hated his job, he loathed it. Given his qualifications he should have been able to get any other job in the mall. He knew for fact he was more than qualified enough to work at Barnes and Noble, _so why didn’t they accept my application? I know the Dewey Decimal System, I could properly organize all their books! I am more than well versed in all of the classics, and I fit in more than all of the workers I encounter there! So wh-_

“Oh Logan~” A woman’s voice sings out, her face was adorned with a rather painful looking smile. She wore bright pink fairy wings on her back and the same purple shirts that Logan was wearing. 

“Yes, Vivian?”

_I do not get paid enough to deal with this today or ever._

“Why aren’t you wearing any accessories from the store? You know the big boss wants us to glam ourselves with all the accessories, come on it’s fun!” Vivian gestures to the rows upon rows of cheap jewelry that would be most suitable for children ages 6 to 11. 

“I will do nothing of the sort, is the neverending glitter not enough of an accesorizor? All my dressware is now infected with the glitter, I cannot find a single tie without the accursed stuff.” As to make his point Logan untucks his shirt revealing a decent speckling of rainbow glitter. 

“Ohoho, the glitter only gets worse the longer you’re here, before you know it your silverware and meals will have glitter on them, glitter, staring back at you. Unyielding glitter. One day you’ll show up to your high school reunion and your childhood crush will come up to you and you’ll think that ‘finally, finally Vivi, she will reveal that she had a crush on you all through high school too’, and then maybe you two could date and live happily ever after. 

But no Logan, she comes up to you with her eyebrow raised and she says, ‘you’ve got something in your hair’, and then she plucks a piece of glitter out of your hair. You go on to awkwardly laugh it off but her puzzled look doesn’t leave, it doesn’t leave Logan. She then begins to point out all the glitter that’s not only in your hair but all over your hundred dollar dress. A dress you bought with your holiday bonus instead of budgeting your money resulting in you living off of a single block of ramen each day for a whole month. 

After a while she asks me why I have so much glitter on me, no normal human should have had that much glitter naturally on them. I couldn’t admit I worked at Claire's, not when I know she’s one her way to becoming a full fledged lawyer. So I looked her in the eyes and I told her I worked as a nurse and that sometimes I’d let the kids make crafts and how the kids adored glitter. I had failed to realize she followed me on instagram, I was caught in the lie. The next thing I knew I was passed out in a Denny’s at three am with a two hundred dollar bill in front of me.” She takes a pause and stares at her hands which seemed to be covered in what seems to be a purple glitter from the headbands she was shelving. 

Logan quirks his eyebrows as Vivian stares at her hands in a fugue like state for a couple minutes before bursting back into a wide smile. 

“Now then Logan, come on pick an accessory it’s fun! Oh or we could pierce your ears, we have all these adorable earrings, you totally look like a unicorn earring kind of guy” 

“I refuse to get my ears pierced, I refuse to pierce any ears, get that look off of your face. If Mr. Alfonse wishes for me to wear more accessories, he’ll have to say it to my face,” Logan sits heavily on the chair behind the cash register as he pulls out his phone. _In a more respectable job I wouldn’t even consider using my phone on the job but this place isn’t a workplace it’s a joke._

“Fine, but he’ll be more on your case than I am, he really wants us to have fun, and well also wants us to at least not be so off putting to the store’s demographic,” she points at a gaggle of preteens who take a weary glance in the store only to turn right around when they spot the deadpan glare on Logan’s face. 

Logan shrugs and looks down at his phone that vibrates with a notification. 

…….

Mothie 

Lo, code: get your ass in the back corridors by B&N now, I’ll bring coffee

Loganess Monster 

Virge? Is this about your sweatshirt? I have it in my car. 

Mothie 

No...not yet...just get here please? 

Loganess Monster 

Give me fifteen minutes.

Mothie 

10?

Loganess Monster 

Thirteen.

Mothie 

Fine.

……..

“Vivian, I’m going on break,” Logan blurts, jumping up from his spot behind the register, Vivian stops shelving and turns a questioning look at him. 

“You’re only three hours into your shift, I know I’m the manager and I can give you some leniency but it’s corporate rules that you can’t go on break until at least four hours into the shift,”

“Please?” _Virgil needs me, screw corporate rules._

“I, okay, let’s make a deal, I pierce your ears and then you can have breaks whenever you want, of course not exactly whenever you want but I’ll give you leniency”

_No, no, no. But Virgil will probably need me again some other day, logically speaking, I need that leniency.  
_

“Fine Vivian you’ve got a deal, do you think you could get the piercings done in under seven minutes?”

\--

“You’re a minute late,” Virgil comments, voice hoarse and a little cracky. He’s sitting on the dirtied floor, a small cup of coffee to his right as he sips his own cup that is no doubt full of pure espresso. 

“You’re having a mental breakdown,” Logan slides down the wall to sit next to Virgil, wincing slightly at his still throbbing ears. 

Virgil puts down his drink, instead taking a few seconds to fiddle with the end of his sullied apron before turning his tired gaze at Logan. His purples dyed eyebrows quirk quickly up in question as his pupils fixate on Logan’s earlobe, an abrupt chuckle leaves him at the sight. 

“Wow Lo, I- unicorns huh?” 

Logan rubs a finger gently across the unicorns that now adorned his ears, in all their glittery glory. 

“I have unicorns on my ears, yes, now, stop avoiding the subject, what happened?” 

“I, nothing I just wanted to hang out and talk about conspiracy theories.” Virgil’s eyes drift back down to his own hands and he goes to rubbing at the chips in his coat of black nail polish. 

Logan watches as he picks lazily at his nails, at the flakes of nail polish falling off onto the ground they sit on. A couple minutes pass before Logan pulls Virgil’s hands away from one another. 

“If you wanted to talk about conspiracy theories you would have asked to come over after work, and even then you already come over to my house almost everyday, so I conclude this is not about wishing to hang out.” 

“I,” Virgil ring’s his hands together, his face furrows in concentration as he seems to look for the words he needs, “I just, it hasn’t been a good day at work, okay. I’m, I, well I’m not supposed to be on break and I’m the only worker but I just,” he slaps the ground, the sounds echoes down the darkened corridor, “I couldn’t do it anymore, I can’t do it Logan. I don’t want to talk about it, I just want to forget it, can, can we just I don’t know talk about some stupid theories or just some stupid facts. _Please, Logan_?” He ends his sentence quietly and a little breathless, if Logan looked close enough he could see the tinge of red in his friend’s pale cheeks and the glistening of his already red eyes. 

It was Logan’s turn to awkwardly fiddle with his hands. _Do I start off with condolences? Does he want me to simply ignore that he’s in a bad mood? The last time I pretended it wasn’t as bad as it was it worsened his mood. Am I supposed to hug him? Does he want more space between us and simply my presence? How do I not make it awkward?_

“I think my anxiety rubbed off on you.” Virgil snorts as he hands Logan the coffee at his side. Logan takes it with a nod and takes a giant swig before turning back to the other.

“I don’t think one can catch anxiety like it’s some sort of flu, though if, uh, I could feasibly catch an anxiety disorder it would better help me understand how to better assist you.”

“I- uh, I think if aliens already lived on earth they would assume the form of dogs or other animals. It would be less work than trying to pretend to be a human, being a human is way too much work for us as I couldn’t imagine an alien trying to pull it off.” Virgil’s hands brush through his purple hair continuously as he speaks, tugging at some ends at random intervals. 

_I see_

“No, aliens would not put themselves in an animal that is supposed to be obedient, I think they could chance it with birds or cats……

\----------------

After hours of wondering Roman finds it, he finds out what cost him his clean work outfit. It happened after he watched a middle aged woman snarl at Mr.Espresso, the man bit back a snide comment at the woman which resulted in her storming off. After a couple minutes he seemed preoccupied with his phone before grabbing the remaining espresso from the espresso machine and a plain black coffee and leaving his post. 

With the counter unguarded Roman made his move, he stalked up to the counter. The first thing that caught his eyes was the utter disarray the counter was left in, he could smell a collection of syrups that had no doubt been spilt. The counter was streaked with watermarks, syrup marks, and finger marks alike, making the black counter look more of a clouded grey. As he stepped behind the counter he began to see the true extent of the mess, there was ground coffee in the coffee syrup and a blender was lying on the sticky floor. _Mr. Espresso can be messy but not this messy._

That’s when his eyes caught on to the bright red post it notes stuck on top of various appliances and syrup pumps. All the notes simple read:

_;)_

_~Roman_

In a more flowery handwriting than Roman could ever achieve. 

Upon inspecting what the post-its were attached to an understanding dawned upon Roman, it seems that most of the syrups labels were mixed and one could further assume the machines were also tampered or fiddled with in a small way. 

_But why attack the coffee guy and blame it on me?_

“Janus of Sephora, this means war” Roman whispers to himself as he begins crumpling up the post it notes, “and it shall be an unforgettable war.”

“Excuse me, sir, can you stop mumbling to yourself and take my order already?” 

_Fuck._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is up with Virgil and Roman feels a tad guilty despite the fact he swears he didn't do the prank! And Remus meets someone new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! It's been a while hasn't it. Lo siento. Really like I'm sorry that I took so long but here's a short chapter. I am planning on trying to write more frequently because I really enjoy writing this fic!

In all his nineteen years of life Logan had come to regret many things, like for example when he was fourteen and he tried to flush his report card, the one that contained his first ever B, down the toilet. Of course the toilet clogged horribly and there was absolutely no plunger in the world that could have fixed it, his mothers have yet to stop teasing him about the matter. There was also the time when he tried to ask out his lab partner in the middle of a lab because handling acidic solutions really sparks one’s confidence. That ended exactly as expected, before he could get out a word he dropped a beaker of hydrochloric acid straight onto his lab partners pants. 

There’s a lot Logan regrets but in the moment, the thing he regrets most was the piercing of his formally virgin ears. Logan knew the risks he was taking by accepting to get his ears pierced by a Claire’s employee, though he wasn’t entirely prepared to live through some of these risks. 

_How do little girls do this? Why do little girls’ parents let them do this? Why is Claire’s legally allowed to do this? I took all the precautions to make sure this wouldn’t happen…._

Logan’s ears were fitted with glittery unicorn earrings and a painful itching sensation. 

_Free piercing and free infection, hooray._

So yes in simple words, one could say that Logan’s day was off to a bad start, though to be honest Logan would call most days where he has to go to work bad days.

He let out a huff as he entered the mall, his hands tightly gripping onto the strap of his messenger bag. Perhaps he could also attribute the particularly foul mood he was in to the fact that Virgil had for some odd reason decided to avoid Logan by opting to bike to work instead of allowing Logan to drive him like he usually did. _Not that it matters, he can choose to bike instead, though logically speaking it would have made more sense to carpool with me instead of biking in the heat in a sweatshirt._

Logan sighed, gripping the bag strap tighter than before, ignoring the throbbing pain in his ears. 

Logan knew, he knew it couldn’t have been something he did that caused Virgil to avoid him, he took all the necessary precautions handling Virgil’s breakdown. Virgil was perfectly fine the night after work when he was dropped off at his house, the two parting with promises to go stargazing when they weren’t busy or socially drained. 

_That leaves one conclusion and if I’m right there’s no hope attempting to confront him about it and there’s nothing I could feasibly do._

Logan lifted his head up towards the lilac sign that haunted his nightmares. 

_One day more_

* * *

Roman felt guilty, not for any of his actual pranks, no he would never in his life feel guilty for those. He felt the tide of guilt whenever he glanced over to the Starbucks counter and at the shorter man who seemed to fold into himself as he took orders. The bags under his eyes seemed to have grown after yesterday and his eyes looked sunken, no amount of concealer could hide the dead look the man held. 

Roman wasn’t one to feel guilty for other people’s actions, but there is no way he could ignore the despairing tug at his mood. 

_Plus what fun is work if I can’t tease Mr. Espresso?_

With his break approaching he decided to go for it and try to apologize to the emo. 

“Mr. Espresso, how’s it going?” The man in question let out a sigh as he began to start brewing a fresh pot of coffee, the smell of ground coffee overtook Roman’s senses for a moment as the silence stretched. “So, uh, came here to tell you I Roman of Barnes and Nobles had absolutely nothing to do with yesterday. I was framed! Someone framed Roman rabbit!” Roman stretched his arms outward from his body as if to solidify the point. 

The man took a glance up toward Roman, lips pursed as he started brewing the pot of coffee. The gurgle of the machine sounded with a click. 

Roman dejectedly put his hands down, Mr. Espresso moved to the other side of the counter and began wiping up the white smudge marks off the luminous brown of the counter. 

“Mr. Espresso, look I’m sorry?” 

The man stopped as his shoulders went up, like a cat ready to pounce. His grip on the dirtied rag tightened, his circular wiping coming to a halt.

“You don’t know my name do you?” He turned his whole body toward Roman, eyes digging holes into Roman’s own. Roman shifted uncomfortably.

“Yes?” 

“Okay what is it?” The man leaned back against the counter, rag all but forgotten as he continued to hold eye contact with Roman. Such was nowhere near the norm for the man, usually he would hold eye contact for a second to convey his sarcasm or exasperation before quickly looking elsewhere.

“Uhh, Bavius?" Roman guessed with a wary smile, his hands came up in a questioning manner.

“No” The man turned around quickly, dropping eye contact as quick as possible as his focus returned to intently scrubbing at a particularly difficult portion of the counter top.

“I apologized” Roman all but pleaded, he walked closer to the man, blocking any possible customers from coming up to the cash register. 

“Hey prince bitch face, I don’t care if you came to apologize, I don’t want an apology. Just, leave me alone” 

“Virgil, Roman, get back to work, you’re scaring off the customers” Will’s voice cut in before Roman could make a comeback. 

_Que Saco! Well at least I know his name now. Mr. Poeta Virgil._

Roman not sparing a glance at Virgil goes back to work, he decides to figure out how to get Virgil back on bickering terms with him after he sorts out the bigger issues. Such as which pranks he will use to get back at the short Sephora employee. 

_Maybe I’ll just put up a ‘you have to be this tall’ sign in front of Sephora before he gets back_

* * *

Remus couldn’t help it he really couldn’t. Prank wars were just so much fun, or at least another way to stop from succumbing to the- 

Remus couldn’t help himself really, he was the master prankster all throughout school, he can’t let his title get revoked by his charismatic younger twin brother. Nor could he bear to allow the short yellow clad lad to disgrace his family name by one upping Roman. 

That’s why Remus found himself pocketing an excessive amount of questionable stickers found in the back of Spencer’s. As fun as a war between only Barnes and Nobles and Sephora sounds Remus couldn’t help concocting a plan that pulled in the whole mall. Sure it would take some time, and maybe won’t work out perfectly but he knew he could make this war bigger. If there was one thing he was good at it was causing mayhem. _And getting acc-_

With the stickers shoved in his worn pockets and his tattered roller skates tied he set off down the back corridors for his weekly stroll. He started taking one day out of his week to skate the corridors during his break for the simple fact that not enough people used the corridors when he was on break and he thought it was fun. Sometimes he’d pop his head briefly through stores’ backdoors to observe their work environment. That’s precisely why he did not expect to see a bespectacled man resignedly leaning against the wall. 

He saw the man before the man saw him, so he took this as an ample time to pick up his speed down the halls. Just before he was about to pass the man he heard an indignant shout, with his goal accomplished he came to a halting stop right in front of the mystery man of the hour. 

“Evening officer, I swear I was going the speed limit” Remus smirked, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. 

“I- what?” Sputtered the man who went to fix his glasses. 

“Though I doubt an officer would have unicorn earrings, cute. If you want a unicorn tattoo to match I’m not qualified but I sure can do it.” Remus wasn’t usually one to talk to strangers so nonchalantly. Really it took him a rather long time before he could casually speak to someone. That didn’t mean he was okay talking to this stranger, he just has a chronic case of foot in mouth syndrome when especially mischievous. This meant that he could never really say what he wanted to say. 

_Oh hello stranger, what’s your name? Haven’t seen you around before! But no I can’t even look him in the eyes after this interaction, stupid. It’s just like-_

“No, I’m quite alright without that.”

For a moment they just stand there, Remus keeping focus on the glittery unicorn earrings in front of him. 

_Talking to people never used to be a problem before I-_

The mystery stranger cleared his throat and cautiously reached his left hand out, “my name is Logan” 

Remus blinked, and looked down at Logan’s outstretched hand dumbfounded. _Rule one, don’t touch strangers, it never ends well._

Remus looked up away from the hand causing Logan to start to dejectedly retract his hand. _Right be quirky but not Remus quirky._

Remus reaches into his right pocket before finding the soft ball resting there, he quickly pulls it out and gently sets it into Logan’s hand. Logan goes rigid. 

“Is that a-” He stands stock still as the ball of fur begins to move, small head turning to look at the stranger. 

“Rat, their name’s Polvo, mine is Remus” _Nailed it._

“I see, uh, why do you have a rat in your pocket?” Polvo blearily walks around Logan’s hand surveying their environment. Once figuring it's nothing new they begin to groom, not caring about being observed by the two men. Polvo had better things to be doing than caring about why her pistachio of a human brought them out. 

“They like it there and don’t worry they’re a _rattus norvegicus domestica_ so they’re cleaner than they look”

“Ah yes, seal point siamese it seems, truly fascinating” Polvo squeaked at Logan who brought his hand up to take a closer look at the rat. “Though I must say that sexing rats is a very easy task so why do you insist on calling Polvo they?”

“ _Aff_ , they’re a rat they literally don’t give a shit and pronouns don’t need to match their gender.” 

“Ah, yes you’re correct, I apologize for assuming. Though I-er-need to get going.” Logan handed Polvo off to Remus who fit them snuggly back into his jacket pocket.”It was nice to make your and Polvo’s acquaintance.” He bowed quickly before running into the door he was sat next to leaving Remus staring after him. 

_Not the worst interaction of the week, he didn’t seem bothered by my lack of eye contact nor did he outwardly sneer at me. A win in my books._

With that Remus rolled down the corridors ready to begin his plan.

**Author's Note:**

> chapter 1 done, wowie, I do have chapter 2 already finished and chapter 3 in the works! If you wanna bug me you can find me at https://swurmy.tumblr.com/ , I'm not too active but I would like to be! The rate of chapters published will depend on my time table and overall interest in this fic (I don't wanna put too much time into a fic when I have so many more I could look to perfect!)


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